Farm laborers continually decline in population as the cost thereof escalates. In order to overcome the cost involved in raising and handling hay, it has become necessary for the farmer to employ new hay baling apparatus which bales the hay into very large, cylindrical bales, rather than the conventional square or rectangular bale of hay.
It is impossible for an individual person to lift and move the large, cylindrical bale of hay from one location to another, and for this reason, various mechanical expedients have been proposed to accomplish this task, as exemplified by the patent to Hostetler, U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,956. Reference is also made to Edelman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,595 and Larson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,086,666, which are examples of the prior art wherein various mechanical expedients are employed for moving heavy, elongated loads of material.
These and other known prior art expedients, which may be employed for movement of large objects, such as a cylindrical bale of hay, are complicated and high in initial cost. Furthermore, these prior art devices lack the utility required by the small hay farmer. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a hay handling apparatus by which large, cylindrical bales of hay can be lifted and transported by one person. Furthermore, it would be desirable if the improved apparatus could be removably mounted within the bed of an ordinary pickup truck, or alternatively, it could be trailer mounted so that the additional advantage of leaving the last bale of hay within the trailer-mounted hay handling apparatus could be realized for feeding cattle directly from the apparatus.